Cover the opening with some plywood or something. Make a couple of shelves. Prime the whole thing, then paint everything you primed white, except the back--choose a color that looks good with your décor or matches one of your accent colors, and paint the back areas that color. Put books and interesting objects on the shelves, or plants, or both.

Add the new tiles that look like wood tot he floor

Add shelves again

put wallpaper behind the back of the shelf so it has a touch of flaire

Its a huge empty space in my entertainment center, looks like it probly used to have shelves. Any creative ideas as to what I can do with the empty space?